1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video signal processing apparatus and a video signal processing method, and particularly to a video signal processing apparatus that functions as not only a video switcher but also a camera controller, and a video signal processing method used with the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A video switcher has been known as an apparatus that relays live images being captured by a camera and produces content based on the video images captured by the camera. More specifically, a video switcher is an apparatus that receives video signals from a plurality of channels, selects any of the video signals and outputs the selected video signal to a projector or any other destination to which video images are outputted, and exerts wiping and other effects on a video image when the video image is switched to another.
Using a video switcher also readily allows a primary output video image (PGM output video image) outputted as a current on-air video image to be switched to a standby video image (NEXT output video image, which is also referred to as preview output video image) that will next be outputted as programmed.
In this case, the video switcher also can display the PGM output video image and the NEXT output video image on a single screen at the same time so that a user can, for example, align the NEXT output video image while looking at the PGM output video image. Specifically, the single screen is divided into a plurality of areas, and the PGM output video image and the NEXT output video image are displayed in respective different areas. The display format is referred to as, for example, multi-view display.
However, the screen on which video images are displayed in the multi-view display format does not allow the user to clearly see where the PGM output video image or the NEXT output video image is displayed on the screen. To address the problem, the frame in which the PGM output video image is displayed and the frame in which the NEXT output video image is displayed are sometimes displayed in different colors. For example, JP-A-09-154047 discloses a technique in which the area in which the PGM output video image is displayed is surrounded by a red frame, whereas the area in which the NEXT output video image is displayed is surrounded by a blue frame, whereby the video images produced from the two video signals are readily visually distinguished from each other.